$100 in 1962 is worth $201 in 1977,
because prices increased 100.7% over that period, an average of
4.75% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$201
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
100.7%
Average inflation rate
4.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$201
Price difference ($100 base)
$101
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1962 → 1977
$201
$100 in 1977 → 1962
$49.83
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1977
Between 1962 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 100.7%, which works out to an average of
4.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.50 buys in 1977: the 1962 dollar
lost 50.2% of its purchasing power over
these 15 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1962, matching 1961’s pace as
inflation stayed remarkably low and unemployment slowly declined from its
recession-era highs. That January, Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers
introduced “wage-price guideposts,” non-binding targets meant to keep pay
and price increases in line with productivity growth without formal
controls. The space race delivered a milestone that February, when John
Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times, making him the
first American to orbit the planet. Markets got a scare that spring: a
dispute over U.S. Steel’s April price increase, which Kennedy publicly
pressured the company into rolling back, rattled investors, and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell about 5.7% on May 28, its steepest one-day
drop since the 1929 crash. The year’s gravest moment came that October,
when American reconnaissance photographed Soviet nuclear missiles in
Cuba, setting off a 13-day standoff that brought the two superpowers
closer to nuclear war than at any other point in the Cold War before the
Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge
not to invade the island. Consumer prices finished 1962 205.1% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.15 an hour.
Every 1962 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.01: $1,000 becomes
$2,007, and $10,000 becomes $20,066.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.01
$5.00
$10.03
$10.00
$20.07
$20.00
$40.13
$50.00
$100
$100
$201
$500
$1,003
$1,000
$2,007
$5,000
$10,033
$10,000
$20,066
$100,000
$200,662
$1,000,000
$2,006,623
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1977
Between 1962 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 142.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 69.8%, against 100.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.75%
$201
Medical care
6.08%
$243
Energy
5.35%
$219
Food
5.20%
$214
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.53%
$194
Transportation
4.43%
$192
Apparel
3.59%
$170
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1962–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1962, at end
1962–1970
3.18%
28.5%
$128
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$201
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $122 by
1969, on its way to $201 in 1977; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 1.3% in 1964.
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $201; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1977: $100 is worth $201 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1977/